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The Updates
COLLABORATIVE UPDATES
The primary objective and hope of The Community Collaborative is that our multi-organizational efforts in any of our chosen locations will foster thoughtful designs and discussions. There is also the hope that those designs and discussions will serve as the catalyst for future developments in those places. To highlight that, updates to our previous two Collaborative locations, the Burlington Neighborhood and Sutherland Avenue, are below. These updates are current as of the publication of this book in the November 2022.
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Burlington
Our first Collaborative was in 2019 in the east Knoxville neighborhood of Burlington. The Vision Plan created for their historic main street, based on community input, included physical improvements such as lighting, sidewalks, and intersections to improve pedestrian safety. Prof. Marleen Davis’s 3rd year Studio at UT’s College of Architecture also spent a semester envisioning the future of the neighborhood, and later presented their designs to City officials and others. Since then, the City of Knoxville and State of Tennessee have come to recognize the value of this part of town. The City has committed a minimum of $2,000,000 to start improvements, and the State helped to fund several newly stamped crosswalks. The crosswalks are in a burgundy-colored asphalt in order to draw better attention and improve the safety of those using them. As well, a facade on a key intersection has since been refurbished, and local improvements continue to occur. Momentum in the area is gaining speed and the future looks bright.
Sutherland Avenue, ‘The Most Eclectic Street in Knoxville’
Our second Collaborative effort was along the Knoxville corridor of Sutherland Avenue in 2020 and brought plenty of challenges.
A public input session at the Armory building near West High School in February brought nearly 100 residents to participate and tell us what they wished to see along the corridor. Within a matter of weeks the pandemic began and it changed all further outreach for the year to a virtual format. While a Vision Plan like the one in Burlington was not created, our partnership with
Prof. Marleen Davis’s 3rd year Studio at the College of Architecture continued. They took the community input and used it to envision the street in the year 2050. One of our other partnerships, with Keep Knoxville Beautiful, helped to transform a long, blank wall along S. Concord Street in to a beautiful mural, acting as a gateway to this eclectic street. 52
New Crosswalk in Burlington
S. Concord Street Mural - Before
S. Concord Street Mural - After Located at MLK, Jr. Ave. & Fern St.
Thanks to all of our volunteers and supporters who make our work possible!
with special thanks to:
Matching Gift Program
The Lawson Donor Advised Fund
And thank you to
for the grant which made the publication of this book possible.
2022
